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'Stress-free' Posada enjoying life as retiree

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Cashman, Posada talk Yankees 2:09

Brian Cashman, Jorge Posada, Rich "Goose" Gossage and others weigh in on the 2013 Yankees before Joe Torre's Safe At Home Foundation Gala

By Adam Berry

TAMPA, Fla. -- Jorge Posada walked around George M. Steinbrenner Field on Friday morning wearing a Yankees uniform and catcher's mitt. He was on the field among a few of his former teammates for Mariano Rivera's batting practice session -- behind the mound, not the plate -- and batting practice itself.

Seeing Posada here is reminiscent of last Spring Training, when Andy Pettitte showed up for a few days of camp, an appearance that turned into a full-scale comeback. Manager Joe Girardi made the same connection, and said, "I don't rule anything out anymore."

But as strange as Posada felt heading into the coaches' locker room, he has neither the desire nor the intention to make a comeback of his own.

"I don't think I could. I don't think I can," Posada said. "It's the everyday thing. It's the grind of a long season, and I don't think I could do that. ... I'm happy with where I'm at. I'm not second-guessing myself. I know I can't play the game. In my mind I think I made the right decision.

"I'm stress-free. It's fun. I'm having fun."

Posada, who came to camp as a guest instructor after an invitation from Hal Steinbrenner, will be with the Yankees for a few more days, and he'll be back again at some point this spring. He likes the idea of being a part-time instructor and enjoys the process of teaching young catchers, but he doesn't have any interest in getting back into baseball in any full-time capacity right now.

"You retire to be home, and you don't want to be here for a month and a half," he said. "We're talking still [about a role with the Yankees], trying to figure out what we're going to do. So we've got time to do it now that I'm here, so we're going to sit down and talk."

Shortstop Derek Jeter, a close friend of Posada's, said it didn't feel too odd to see Posada as a guest instructor. The two have kept in contact and seen each other since Posada retired before the 2012 season, and Jeter has already dealt with the "awkward" situation of seeing several former teammates -- Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez and so on -- appear in camp as guest instructors.

But Jeter and Rivera said it was good see their former teammate back among the Yankees, whether he's playing or not.

"Any time that we have a guy that does what Jorge's doing, people are going to speculate," Girardi said. "And I think it's fair to do. Jorge's a guy that loved to play the game."

Adam Berry is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @adamdberry. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.